Oscars 2009: Slumdog Millionaire wins eight Academy Awards including best picture and best director - Telegraph Oscars Oscars 2009: Slumdog Millionaire wins eight Academy Awards including best picture and best director Slumdog Millionaire has swept the Academy Awards, winning eight Oscars including the coveted best picture and best director. By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles 6:48AM GMT 23 Feb 2009 The night of triumph sealed the Mumbai-set British film’s unlikely dominance of Hollywood’s glittering award season. The Oscar haul equals that of Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi, which scooped eight Oscars in 1983, though falls short of The English Patient, Anthony Minghella's Second World War romance, which won nine Academy Awards in 1997. Slumdog, a rags-to-riches fairy tale about an orphan who appears on India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, had already accrued a wealth of awards in the build-up to the Oscars, including seven Baftas and four Golden Globes , and was favourite in most of the 10 categories in which it was nominated, including best picture.

It beat fellow nominees The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , Frost/Nixon , Milk , and The Reader to win the award, the last of the night, which was announced by Steven Spielberg. Accepting the best picture statuette, Christian Colson, the film’s British producer, said the production was “a collaboration between hundreds of people”. Related Articles 23 Feb 2009 He made reference to the fact the low-budget film almost failed to get released. "Together we've been on an extraordinary journey,” he said, surrounded by members of the cast and crew. “When we started out, we had no stars, we had no power or muscle. "We didn't have enough money, really, to do what we wanted to do. But what we had was a script that inspired mad love in everyone who read it. "We had a genius for a director, we had a cast and a crew who were unwavering in their commitment and whose talents are up on the screen for you to see." “Most of all we had passion and belief.

And our film shows that if you have those two things, anything is possible.” Earlier Danny Boyle picked up the coveted best director Oscar for Slumdog, which has made around $150 million worldwide since its November release. The film also won Oscars for best adapted screenplay, best original score and song, best sound mixing, film editing and cinematography. Only seven other films in the 81-year-history of the Oscars have won eight or more awards. Slumdog’s haul overtook that of Shakespeare in Love, which won seven statuettes in 1999 and was the last British film to dominate the Oscars.

Start your free 30 day Amazon Prime trial» 'Slumdog' makes history, sweeps Oscars - CNN.com 'Slumdog' makes history, sweeps Oscars Story Highlights "Slumdog Millionaire" wins eight Oscars, including best picture and director Sean Penn named best actor for "Milk" Kate Winslet receives best actress award for "The Reader" Heath Ledger wins best supporting actor for "The Dark Knight" By Todd Leopold CNN (CNN) -- Years from now it may be a trivia question on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." Dev Patel and Freida Pinto star in "Slumdog Millionaire," which won eight Oscars, including best picture. more photos » "What 2008 film based around a well-known game show," the question may read, ominous music humming in the background, "won the Oscar for best picture?" The answer -- "Slumdog Millionaire" -- is history. It is East meeting West, Bollywood meeting Hollywood, a film that was going nowhere winning the biggest prize in the movie business.

At Sunday's 81st annual Academy Awards, "Slumdog" won eight Oscars, including best picture, director and adapted screenplay, completing a joyful ride that had carried it to wins at the Golden Globes, Writers Guild, Directors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards. Watch highlights of the Oscar show » "Most of all we had passion and we had belief, and our film shows if you have those two things, you have everything," said producer Christian Colson, surrounded by members of the film's huge cast and crew. Gallery: See memorable moments from the ceremony The film has been called "Dickensian" -- and freely borrows from Indian film traditions, right down to its closing dance number. It is the story of an orphaned, poverty-raised teaboy who goes on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" to connect with his lost love. Don't Miss In Style: On the red carpet The film also overcame great challenges; it nearly went straight to DVD in America after its initial studio folded. "Slumdog's" filmmakers were jubilant at the wins, which also included Oscars for best director (Danny Boyle), best adapted screenplay (Simon Beaufoy), score (A.R.

Rahman), cinematography (Anthony Dod Mantle), song, sound mixing and film editing. Boyle, better know for brash British films such as "Trainspotting," jumped up and down as he accepted his award, saying he'd told his children that if he ever won, he'd bounce like Tigger from "Winnie-the-Pooh." List of winners, nominees Rahman was equally appreciative. "All my life I've had a choice between hate and love, and I chose love, and now I'm here," he said. Gallery: The big winners » "Slumdog's" main competition, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," won just three Oscars, all in minor categories. The film had led the pack with 13 nominations. The rest of the Oscar broadcast alternated between host Hugh Jackman's smooth song-and-dance numbers, some comic moments from Steve Martin, Tina Fey and Ben Stiller, and politics, generally focused on gay rights and California's anti-gay marriage Proposition 8. Gallery: Scenes from the Oscars » Sean Penn won best actor for playing Harvey Milk in "Milk," the story of the first openly gay man elected to major public office. Penn earned laughs and applause for his speech.

"You commie homo-loving sons of guns," the sometimes truculent actor began, to laughter. "I did not expect this, and I wanted to be very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me often. But I am touched by the appreciation." Watch Sean Penn talk about his win » After a series of thank-yous, he turned serious in talking about gay marriage. "For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think it's a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame and their shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that support," Penn said. "We've got to have equal rights for everyone." Dustin Lance Black, who won original screenplay for "Milk," also gave an impassioned speech in favor of gay rights. "I think [Milk] would want me to say to all the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight ...

that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value, and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours." Heath Ledger won best supporting actor for his performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight." His parents and sister accepted the award for the actor, who died in January 2008. "This award tonight would have humbly validated Heath's quiet determination to be truly accepted by you all here -- his peers -- within an industry he truly loved," said Ledger's father, Kim. Watch Ledger's family talk about the award » Ledger is only the second actor to win a posthumous Oscar. Peter Finch won best actor for 1976's "Network" two months after he died in early 1977. Other winners included Kate Winslet , who won best actress for her performance in "The Reader"; Penelope Cruz, who won best supporting actress honor for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"; and "WALL-E," which won best animated feature. Watch Penelope Cruz's 'magical moment' » Most of the winners, if not foreordained, were expected.

The evening's sole shock came with best foreign-language film, which went to the Japanese film "Departures." Among the films it beat were France's "The Class" and Israel's "Waltz With Bashir," two of the best-reviewed films of the year. The Oscars moved at a steady pace, largely thanks to Jackman's brisk, jokey work. Only the introductions to the four acting categories, in which previous winners read tributes to current nominees as if they were about to appear on "This Is Your Life," considerably slowed the show, which ran close to 3½ hours. At various points, Jackman cracked wise about downsizing -- "Next year," said the "Australia" star, "I'll be starring in a movie called 'New Zealand' " -- performed songs about each best picture nominee in various musical styles and paid tribute to celebrities as if pointing out VIPs in a nightclub. He even physically carried Anne Hathaway onstage to play Richard Nixon in a "Frost/Nixon" sendup. Blog: Behind the scenes But it was "Slumdog Millionaire" that carried the evening. At one point, Resul Pookutty, who won for sound mixing, seemed overwhelmed as he accepted his Oscar.

"I dedicate this award to my country," he said. "Thank you, academy, this is not just a sound award, this is history being handed over to me." Given the import of East meeting West, the movie business can say the same thing. Oscars 2009: Slumdog Millionaire sweeps the board, while Kate Winslet wins best actress | Film | The Guardian Share on Messenger Close Slumdog Millionaire was the runaway winner at the 81st Academy Awards last night. Danny Boyle's Mumbai-set melodrama triumphed in all but one of the categories for which it was nominated, taking best picture, best director and best adapted screenplay, as well as five others. Meanwhile, Kate Winslet picked up the best actress award, though there was a surprise for Mickey Rourke - widely tipped as the winner of the best actor award, but pipped at the post by Sean Penn. But not even this turn of events could prise the night's focus away from Slumdog, just as not even the most potentially damaging allegations that its child stars had been exploited were, in the end, able to scrape any sheen off Boyle's crowdpleaser.

The pre-teen actors, flown in especially from India for the occasion, charmed all on the red carpet, then repeated the trick on the podium at the Kodak theatre, where they helped producer Christian Colson accept the top gong for best motion picture. Earlier in the evening, the film's director, Danny Boyle , bounced onto the stage to pick up his award for best director, apparently keeping a long-held promise to his children that he would accept an Oscar "in the spirit of Tigger". He thanked his cast, crew and family, the people of Mumbai and of St Mary's Social Club in his hometown of Radcliffe in Lancashire. He also praised the evening's organisers. "I don't know what it looks like on television," he said, "but in the room, it's bloody wonderful." Yet until about halfway through the ceremony, Slumdog's fate seemed uncertain. It was neck-and-neck with its closest rival, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , David Fincher's loose adaptation of the F Scott Fitzgerald story about a man who ages backwards, each film having bagged three awards. But then Slumdog snatched two consecutive awards from its competitor: best sound mixing and best editing.

Soon afterwards the film's composer, AR Rahman, won the prize for best score and best song. Sandwiched between the awards, he performed the winning number, Jai Ho. Earlier in the evening, Simon Beaufoy had won the award for best adapted screenplay, while Anthony Dod Mantle took the gong for best cinematography. Brits did well in other categories, too. Winslet made a relatively restrained speech (compared with her now infamous effusions at the Golden Globes) when accepting the best actress award for her role as a former SS concentration camp guard in Stephen Daldry's The Reader . She acknowledged her long-time desire for the honour, then thanked her husband, director Sam Mendes, and her two children. On stage, and unable to see where her parents were seated in the auditorium, she asked her father to whistle to her, which he did, to the delight of the assembled A-listers. Meanwhile, Simon Chinn and James Marsh were surprise winners of the best documentary award for Man On Wire , their acclaimed film following tightrope artist Philippe Petit's hair-raising trip between the twin towers of the World Trade Centre on a tightrope.

They were joined on stage by Petit, who, ever the showman, managed to balance a statuette on his chin. But the least expected moment undoubtedly occurred late on, when bookies' favourite Mickey Rourke was denied the best actor award for his role as a washed-up grappler in The Wrestler by sometime arch-rival Sean Penn. Penn, who won for his portrayal of gay rights activist Harvey Milk in Gus van Sant's biopic, Milk acknowledged the shock in his speech, exclaiming, "Well, you commie, homo-loving sons of guns!" Departures , a Japanese meditation on death, was the other odd winner, taking the best foreign language film prize from the much-fancied Waltz With Bashir and The Baader Meinhof Complex. But by and large, the ceremony was most notable for its cheery predictability. Hotly-tipped Penélope Cruz took the award for best supporting actress for her amusingly volatile performance in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona , while the late Heath Ledger won best supporting actor for his performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight . His family picked up the award in his stead. "This award tonight ...

validated Heath's quiet determination to be truly accepted by you all here, his peers, in an industry that he so loved," said his father, Kim, who was joined on stage by the late actor's mother, Sally, and sister, Kate. Host Hugh Jackman was widely judged to have acquitted himself admirably in a ceremony that somehow managed to be both intimate and heavy on old-fashioned razzle-dazzle. Frequent mentions of the global recession were echoed by a Depression-era style musical dance number, which saw a top-hatted Jackman, alongside Beyoncé and the young stars of Mamma Mia! and High School Musical, dance up a storm in a medley extravaganza. Queen Latifah, however, got the stage all to herself, belting out I'll Be Seeing You over the In Memorium montage. Irreverent comedy from the likes of Steve Martin and Tina Fey - well-paired to present best original screenplay (which went to Dustin Lance Black for Milk) was warmly received in the auditorium. Likewise Seth Rogen and James Franco, who reprised their Pineapple Express stoners act to titter at stony-faced contenders such as The Reader and Doubt.

But the show-stealer looked to be Ben Stiller, spoofing Joaquin Phoenix's zonked out appearance on the David Letterman show, with a Unabomber beard, muffed delivery and a zonked-out stare. Yet the 2009 Oscars , for all their glitz and glamour, look likely to be remembered chiefly for their celebration of one film: a drama about homeless oprhans in one of the world's most impoverished regions. Few could have imagined, a year back, that this would be the case. Not even the film's screenwriter. "There are certain places you never imagine standing," said Simon Beaufoy, on winning his award. "The moon, the South Pole, the Miss World podium and here." After such wild success tonight, the winner's podium at the Oscars now seems the most likely place for a sighting of anyone associated with Slumdog. Topics BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Oscars | Oscar joy for Slumdog Millionaire Advertisement Highlights from the 81st Academy Awards Hit British film Slumdog Millionaire has won the top prize at the Academy Awards, winning eight Oscars including best director and best picture.

In a great night for Britain, Kate Winslet won the best actress Oscar for The Reader, finally clinching the award on her sixth nomination. The big surprise of the night was Sean Penn, winning best actor for his role as gay rights activist Harvey Milk. Heath Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for supporting actor for The Dark Knight. The actor's family received the award on behalf of Ledger, who died in January 2008. "We have been truly overwhelmed by the honour and respect being bestowed upon him with this award," his mother said. Ledger becomes only the second performer to win a posthumous Oscar, following Peter Finch's win for Network in 1977. But the night belonged to Slumdog Millionaire, the rags-to-riches tale that has enchanted audiences around the world.

Director Danny Boyle, 52, bounced up and down in delight as he received his award, telling the audience: "I swore [to my children] if this miracle ever happened I would receive it in the spirit of Tigger." Optimism Winslet was presented her Oscar by five previous best actress winners The film, set in the slums of Mumbai (Bombay), won eight awards in total, including gongs for best adapted screenplay, cinematography, sound mixing, film editing, best original score and best song. "There are certain places in the universe you never imagine standing. For me, it's the moon, the South Pole, the Miss World podium and here," joked British screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, previously best known for writing The Full Monty. Indian composer AR Rahman, who received two Oscars - for best song and best score - praised the city which inspired the book, and subsequently the film. He hailed "all the people from Mumbai and the essence of the film, which is about optimism and the power of hope and our lives". "We had passion and we had belief and if you have those two things, truly, anything is possible," said Christian Colson.

As anticipated - after years of waiting in the wings - Winslet, 33, won her Academy Award for playing a Nazi prison officer in The Reader. "I'd be lying if I hadn't made a version of this speech. I think I was probably eight years old and staring into the bathroom mirror," she said. "I feel very fortunate to have made it all the way from there to here." In a night of predictable outcomes, Sean Penn's best actor triumph for his portrayal of gay rights activist Harvey Milk seemed to win the A-list audience's approval. AWARDS TALLY 'Slumdog Millionaire' Wins Eight Oscars, Including Best Picture - The New York Times The New York Times Awards Season |A ‘Slumdog’ Kind of Night at the Oscar Ceremony Search Photo Credit Monica Almeida/The New York Times LOS ANGELES — “Slumdog Millionaire” and its director, Danny Boyle , with their modern-day fairy tale about hope and hard times in the slums of Mumbai, pushed aside big-studio contenders to sweep top honors at the 81st annual Academy Awards on Sunday. Accepting the best director award, Mr. Boyle paid tribute to the people of Mumbai, who figured by the thousands in his film.

“You dwarf even this guy,” he said, looking at his Oscar statuette. Minutes later, “Slumdog Millionaire” was named best picture, helping give the evening a distinctly international tilt. Mr. Boyle, 52, has been known for putting an inspirational twist on often dark and sophisticated movies that have included “Trainspotting,” about heroin addiction, and “Sunshine,” about sacrifice on a mission to reignite the sun. The many prizes for “Slumdog Millionaire” — whose writer, Simon Beaufoy, was honored for best adapted screenplay, among others prizes for the film — completed the film’s steady march past competitors like “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” from Paramount Pictures and “Frost/Nixon” from Universal Pictures. Continue reading the main story The best picture award was a first for Fox Searchlight, which distributed “Slumdog Millionaire” in the United States.

In the past, the studio appeared to narrowly miss the big prize with a series of comic best picture nominees that included “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Sideways” and “The Full Monty.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story In what was widely perceived to be one of the year’s few tight races, Sean Penn was named best actor for his performance in the title role in “Milk.” “You Commie, homo-loving sons of guns,” said Mr. Penn, who edged aside Brad Pitt and Mickey Rourke, among others, for the best actor Oscar, his second. Best actress honors went to Kate Winslet for her performance in “The Reader” as a German woman who becomes romantically involved with a teenager and later conceals her role in the Holocaust. Hollywood has been taking on more and more of a global tilt with each passing year, but on this evening it was especially evident in the show and in the awards themselves. After Penélope Cruz won for best supporting actress for her role in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” she gave part of her speech in Spanish — she said backstage it was a dedication to the actors and people of Spain — and then suggested backstage that the movies had to grow beyond the bounds of strictly American stories.

“We are all mixed together, and it has to be reflected in the cinema,” she said. The supporting actress award, the night’s first, was presented by no less than five past winners of the prize, Whoopi Goldberg, Tilda Swinton, Eva Marie Saint, Goldie Hawn and Anjelica Huston. The heavy show of star power was meant to make good on a promise that the broadcast would deliver entertainment value that reached far beyond that offered by the nominees. Heath Ledger , in a widely anticipated development, posthumously won the best supporting actor prize for his performance as the Joker in “The Dark Knight.” Mr. Ledger’s parents afterward said his Oscar statuette would be held in trust by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Many other awards also went to those favored in the preshow betting. Dustin Lance Black won the best original screenplay Oscar for “Milk,” about the gay-rights advocate Harvey Milk. Mr. Black, who is openly gay, said Mr. Milk’s story had given him hope that one day he might “fall in love and even get married.” Photo Heath Ledger in a scene from "The Dark Knight." Credit Warner Brothers Pictures Mr.

Beaufoy, whose “Slumdog” screenplay was based on a novel by Vikas Swarup, rattled off a list of places he never expected to be — “the moon, the South Pole, the Miss World podium and here” — as he accepted that award for his work on a film that captured many of the movie industry’s pre-Oscar honors and was widely viewed as a preordained winner of the evening’s final award, for best picture. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Also in the first wave of awards, “Wall-E” was named best animated film, though it had been denied the best picture nomination that its backers at the Walt Disney Company and its Pixar Animation unit had sought. Overall, Sunday evening’s Oscar show became a struggle between the ambitions of a producing team — headed by the veteran film producer Laurence Mark and the filmmaker Bill Condon — that aimed for an evening full of surprises and the apparent determination of 5,810 voters in the academy to bestow honors largely where they were expected to go.

A much-discussed new format for the show opened with a loosey-goosey showbiz number and proceeded along very self-referential lines, with lots of inside jokes that drew substantial laughs from the crowd inside the Kodak Theater here. Hugh Jackman, the evening’s host, started with a very short comic monologue that poked fun at his own failure to get nominated for his performance in “Australia.” He then plunged into a comic song-and-dance number that poked fun at serious movies that were nominated for best picture, including “Milk” and “Frost/Nixon,” and less serious movies that were not, including “The Dark Knight.” An early appearance by the screenwriting winners helped give the evening a story line of its own: the awards categories were arranged in blocks intended to reflect the process of building a film, beginning, in the first segment, with a blinking cursor tapping out the beginning of a script on a blank screen. In another departure, the celebrity presenters were not identified in advance, partly in the hope that a larger-than-usual audience would tune in to see who actually showed up.

Last year’s broadcast, with the smallest domestic audience in the ceremony’s history, had only about 32 million viewers in the United States. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy The show’s stage sets, overseen by the New York architect David Rockwell, were bathed much of the time in blue and included a vast crystal curtain. And the show was punctuated by deliberate references to movies that had played well with ticket-buying audiences last year but were often not in the running for awards, the nominations for which went overwhelmingly to relatively little-seen movies. Advertisement Continue reading the main story To some extent, the show’s elements collided with themselves, as songs, cinematic retrospectives and actor after actor working Hollywood in-jokes crowded the screen. One sequence, directed by Bennett Miller, of “Capote,” was squeezed out altogether but was shown to the in-theater audience during a commercial break.

In keeping with the self-referential tone of the night, the best live action short was teed up with a live action short from Judd Apatow, with Seth Rogen and James Franco, in character from their “Pineapple Express” film, in starring roles. “This is almost a surreal moment to me,” said the German filmmaker Jochen Alexander Freydank as he accepted the award for his “Spielzeugland,” which had not much to do with the antics that preceded it. A reconfigured auditorium made it much easier for the celebrities to mingle during commercial breaks. The mood was lively and chaotic. Mr. Rourke sat on the edge of the stage kicking his legs during several breaks, with a stage manager coming to shoo him back to his seat. Mr. Jackman came across less as comic than as cabaret performer. Along the way, he did his best to try to keep the troops entertained during the commercial breaks, serenading his dad in the audience, reading a note from his wife (“you’re doing good so far, babe”) and even going into the aisles to hand out cookies. Photo Penelope Cruz won best supporting actress for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." Credit From left: J.

Emilio Flores for The New York Times; The Weinstein Company Still, all the showmanship seemed only to highlight the basic challenge of a ceremony whose producers were hoping to capitalize on movies’ strong commercial appeal: The best picture candidates — “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Frost/Nixon, ” “Milk,” “The Reader” and “Slumdog Millionaire” — altogether had fewer than half the viewers of “The Dark Knight,” an audience favorite that was praised by many critics but still did not make the cut. In the end, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” which had been the evening’s most-nominated film, with 13 nominations in all, won for its art direction and makeup but not in the crucial acting and directing categories. “Frost/Nixon,” directed by Ron Howard, was the only best picture nominee to come away with no prizes at all. “Slumdog Millionaire,” though it had no actors nominated for prizes, swept many awards other than those on the top line, including prizes for cinematography, sound mixing, score and film editing.

“Slumdog’s” eight Oscars was the largest total won by a single film since “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” won 11 in 2004. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Hopes of using the evening to celebrate the enduring popularity of films were complicated by the grim economic realities of the moment. The academy has been trying to celebrate a year in which movie attendance remained buoyant without looking as if the industry is out of touch with the misery elsewhere. Walking in among the stars who lined the red carpet, Harvey Weinstein, a founder of the Weinstein Company, said a bit of glamour was needed to help “overcome the malaise” that hung over matters more real. “If we and the movies don’t create an illusion, we’ve failed,” said Mr.

Weinstein, whose company released “The Reader.” Phillipe Petit, the French tightrope walker from “Man on Wire” — which won for best documentary feature — walked into the ceremony on the carpet and said, “I haven’t been looking at the red carpet, I’ve been looking above and thinking of what it would be like to be on a wire above all this.” In one of the night’s few surprises, the best foreign language film went to “Departures,” a drama about an unemployed cellist, from Japan. Many observers had predicted “Waltz With Bashir,” an Israeli animated drama about that country’s past war in Lebanon, would take that prize. In addition, the standard “In Memoriam” segment took on special significance this year because one of the nominees for best supporting actor, Mr. Ledger, died unexpectedly of a drug overdose early last year, before “Dark Knight” was even released. Queen Latifah sang a familiar ballad, “I’ll Be Seeing You,” from the Broadway musical “Right This Way,” during the memorial segment. The glittering event at the Kodak is generally a pretty grown-up affair, but this year children from halfway around the world made a splashy appearance.

The kids from “Slumdog Millionaire” had no trouble adjusting to the head-snapping cultural shift from India to the red carpet. “I want to see Johnny Depp, Robert De Niro, and Jack Nicholson, Robert Downey,” said Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala, who played the young Salim in the film. “Seeing any of them would be cool.” He was surrounded by seven co-stars who played the main characters at various ages. When asked how they felt about their film being among the nominated, they all backed up as if on cue and shouted, “Jai ho,” which translates roughly as “Victory.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story Another child from India was Pinki Sonkar, whose cleft palate repair was the story behind “Smile Pinki,” which won the documentary short film category. Jerry Lewis, the 82-year-old comedian who has devoted much of his time to raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from Eddie Murphy, who had reprised one of Mr. Lewis’s most famous roles, “The Nutty Professor.” “The humility I feel will stay with me for the rest of my life,” Mr. Lewis said.

“To all of you people from the movie business, it is such a joy being part of you and of everything you do.” Correction: February 24, 2009 An article on Monday about the Academy Awards ceremony misstated part of a comment by Danny Boyle, director of “Slumdog Millionaire,” in some editions. Mr. Boyle, saluting the people of Mumbai, where the film is set, said, “You dwarf even this guy,” referring to the Oscar statuette  not “You dwarf even the sky.” Brooks Barnes contributed reporting. A version of this article appears in print on , on Page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: It’s a ‘Slumdog’ Kind of Night at the Oscar Ceremony.

Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe A rich night for best picture 'Slumdog Millionaire' - CNN.com A rich night for best picture 'Slumdog Millionaire' Story Highlights "Slumdog Millionaire" wins eight Oscars, including best picture and director Sean Penn wins best actor for "Milk" Kate Winslet wins best actress for "The Reader" Heath Ledger wins best supporting actor for "The Dark Knight" CNN (CNN) -- Perhaps it really WAS destiny. "Slumdog Millionaire," the little film that overcame tremendous odds simply to earn an American release, won eight Oscars Sunday night at the 81st annual Academy Awards, including best picture. "Most of all we had passion and we had belief, and our film shows if you have those two things, you have everything," said producer Christian Colson, surrounded by many members of the film's huge cast and crew. It was a supremely unlikely success story. "Millionaire," which combines elements of Bollywood melodrama and documentary grit, features no stars. It's set largely among the poverty-stricken districts of Mumbai, India, and one-third of the film is in Hindi.

Its initially reluctant director, Danny Boyle, is better known for brash British films such as "Trainspotting" and "28 Days Later." And the film almost went straight to DVD in America, thanks to the folding of initial studio Warner Independent Pictures (like CNN, it's a unit of Time Warner). But the film's orphaned, poverty-raised hero, played by Dev Patel, overcomes his challenges to earn a spot on the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" -- not necessarily to win money, but to connect with his lost love. On the show, he's told that perhaps he is a figure of destiny. "It is written," the show's smarmy host tells him, somewhat mockingly, after Patel's character aces several questions. List of winners, nominees "Slumdog's" filmmakers were jubilant at the wins, which also included Oscars for best director (Boyle), best adapted screenplay (Simon Beaufoy), score (A.R. Rahman), cinematography (Anthony Dod Mantle), song, sound mixing and film editing.

Boyle jumped up and down as he accepted his award, saying he'd told his children that if he ever won, he'd bounce like Tigger from "Winnie-the-Pooh." Rahman was equally appreciative. "All my life I've had a choice between hate and love, and I chose love, and now I'm here," he said. In Style: On the red carpet "Slumdog's" main competition, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," won just three Oscars, all in minor categories. The film had led the pack with 13 nominations. The rest of the Oscar broadcast alternated between host Hugh Jackman's smooth song-and-dance numbers, some comic moments from Steve Martin, Tina Fey and Ben Stiller, and politics, generally focused on gay rights and California's anti-gay marriage Proposition 8. Sean Penn won best actor for playing Harvey Milk in "Milk," the story of the first openly gay man elected to major public office. Penn earned laughs and applause for his speech. iReport.com: What do you think of the winners? "You commie homo-loving sons of guns," the sometimes truculent actor began, to laughter.

"I did not expect this, and I wanted to be very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me, often. But I am touched by the appreciation." After a series of thank-you's, he turned serious in talking about gay marriage. "For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think it's a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame and their shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that support," Penn said. "We've got to have equal rights for everyone." Dustin Lance Black, who won original screenplay for "Milk," also gave an impassioned speech in favor of gay rights. "I think [Milk] would want me to say to all the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight ... that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value, and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours." Heath Ledger won best supporting actor for his performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight." His parents and sister accepted the award for the actor, who died in January 2008.

"This award tonight would have humbly validated Heath's quiet determination to be truly accepted by you all here -- his peers -- within an industry he truly loved," said Ledger's father, Kim. Ledger is only the second actor to win a posthumous actor. Peter Finch won best actor for 1976's "Network" two months after he died in early 1977. Other winners included Kate Winslet, who won best actress for her performance in "The Reader"; Penelope Cruz, who won best supporting actress honor for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"; and "WALL-E," which won best animated feature. Most of the winners, if not foreordained, were expected. The evening's sole shock came with best foreign-language film, which went to the Japanese film "Departures." Among the films it beat were France's "The Class" and Israel's "Dances With Bashir," two of the best-reviewed films of the year. The Oscars moved at a steady pace, largely thanks to Jackman's brisk, jokey work.

Only the introductions to the four acting categories, in which previous winners read tributes to current nominees as if they were about to appear on "This Is Your Life," considerably slowed the show, which ran close to three and a half hours. At various points, Jackman cracked wise about downsizing -- "Next year," said the "Australia" star, "I'll be starring in a movie called 'New Zealand' " -- performed songs about each best picture nominee in various musical styles, and paid tribute to various celebrities as if pointing out VIPs in a nightclub. He even physically carried Anne Hathaway on stage to play Richard Nixon in a "Frost/Nixon" send-up. Blog: Behind the scenes But it was "Slumdog Millionaire" that carried the evening. At one point, Resul Pookutty, who won for sound mixing, seemed overwhelmed as he accepted his Oscar. "I dedicate this award to my country," he said. "Thank you, Academy, this is not just a sound award, this is history being handed over to me." Given the import of East meeting West, the movie business can say the same thing.

Question: At the 2009 Academy Awards who won the Oscar for Best Director for his film 'Slumdog Millionaire'?
Answer: Danny Boyle